Making Aliyah: The Journey of Moving to Israel

The Word That Means “Going Up”

In Hebrew, moving to Israel is called aliyah — literally, “going up.” It’s the same word used when someone is called up to read from the Torah in synagogue. The metaphor is intentional: moving to Israel is not just a geographic relocation but a spiritual ascent, a fulfillment of one of Judaism’s oldest aspirations.

For millennia, Jews in the diaspora prayed to return to the Land of Israel. “Next year in Jerusalem,” they said at every Passover seder. Most never expected to act on it. But since the founding of the State of Israel in 1948, over three million Jews from more than 100 countries have made the journey — trading the familiar for the foreign, arriving at Ben Gurion Airport to start new lives in a country that was built, in part, to receive them.

Making aliyah is one of the most consequential decisions a Jewish person can make. It is exhilarating, bureaucratic, exhausting, and transformative — sometimes all on the same day.

The Law of Return

The legal foundation of aliyah is the Law of Return, passed by the Knesset in 1950, just two years after Israel’s independence. The law states, simply and powerfully: “Every Jew has the right to come to this country as an oleh.”

An oleh (masculine) or olah (feminine) is a new immigrant exercising the right of return. The plural, olim, is the word you’ll hear constantly in Israeli discussions about immigration.

In 1970, the law was amended to extend eligibility to anyone with at least one Jewish grandparent, as well as their spouses. The definition was deliberately broad — it mirrors the criteria Nazi Germany used to persecute Jews. The logic: anyone Hitler would have killed as a Jew should have a Jewish state that will protect them.

This broad definition creates complications. Someone with a Jewish grandfather but no personal connection to Judaism qualifies. A person who has undergone a Reform or Conservative conversion may face scrutiny from the rabbinate (which controls religious status in Israel) even though the Law of Return accepts all recognized conversions for immigration purposes. The gap between “eligible for citizenship” and “recognized as Jewish by the rabbinate” is one of Israeli society’s most persistent tensions.

Who Makes Aliyah — and Why

The motivations for aliyah are as varied as the people who undertake it:

• Ideology: Zionism — the belief that the Jewish people should have sovereign life in their homeland — remains a powerful motivator. For ideological olim, aliyah is the fulfillment of a national dream.
• Security: Waves of aliyah have followed periods of persecution. The massive immigration from the former Soviet Union in the 1990s (over one million people) was driven by both opportunity and the desire to leave an antisemitic society. French aliyah has surged in response to rising antisemitism in France.
• Religious conviction: For religiously observant Jews, living in the Land of Israel carries spiritual significance. Some believe it is a mitzvah (commandment) to live there.
• Quality of life: Some olim are drawn by Israel’s climate, culture, community, or economic opportunities — especially in the tech sector.
• Family: Many make aliyah to join family members already in Israel.

The Process: How It Actually Works

Making aliyah is not as simple as buying a plane ticket. The process typically involves:

1. Establishing Eligibility

You must prove your Jewish ancestry or conversion. Documents might include a letter from a rabbi, parents’ or grandparents’ birth or marriage certificates, synagogue membership records, or conversion certificates. The Jewish Agency and Nefesh B’Nefesh help applicants gather documentation.

2. Opening a File

You apply through the Jewish Agency for Israel or, for North Americans and Brits, through Nefesh B’Nefesh (founded in 2002). The application includes an interview, background checks, and document review.

3. The Flight

Nefesh B’Nefesh is famous for organizing charter flights — planes full of new immigrants, greeted at Ben Gurion Airport with ceremony, flags, and a fair amount of happy tears. Upon arrival, olim receive an Israeli identity card (teudat zehut) and an absorption basket (sal klita) — a financial stipend to help with initial expenses.

4. Absorption

New immigrants receive significant government benefits during their first years: subsidized housing, tax breaks, reduced municipal taxes, and free Hebrew instruction.

Ulpan: Learning Hebrew

The single greatest challenge for most olim is the language. Hebrew is a Semitic language with its own alphabet, and while it was revived as a modern spoken language only in the late 19th century, it is not easy to learn.

The Israeli government provides free ulpan — intensive Hebrew courses typically lasting five months, with daily classes. Ulpan teaches conversational Hebrew, reading, writing, and basic cultural orientation. There are ulpan programs for different levels and populations, including programs for professionals, retirees, and religious students.

Most olim will tell you that ulpan gives you a foundation, but real fluency takes years of immersion — struggling through bureaucratic forms, negotiating with landlords, and eventually dreaming in Hebrew.

The Challenges: What Nobody Tells You

Aliyah promotional materials tend to emphasize the joyful. The reality includes:

• Bureaucracy: Israeli bureaucracy is legendary in its complexity and its ability to test human patience. Navigating government offices (misrad hapnim, bituach leumi, mas hachnasa) is a rite of passage.
• Culture shock: Israeli directness — some call it rudeness, Israelis call it honesty — takes adjustment. Lines are suggestions. Personal space is a Western luxury. Everyone has an opinion about everything and will share it without being asked.
• Economic adjustment: Israel is expensive. Housing costs, particularly in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, are among the highest in the world. Salaries are often lower than equivalent positions in North America or Europe.
• Professional challenges: Degrees and professional credentials from abroad may not be recognized. Lawyers, doctors, and engineers often need to pass Israeli qualifying exams. Career downgrading — a surgeon driving a taxi — is less common than it once was but still happens.
• Social integration: Building a social network takes time. Israelis are warm but cliquish; penetrating established social circles requires patience and thick skin.
• Military service: Children of olim are typically drafted into the IDF at 18, a prospect that delights some families and terrifies others.

Yerida: The Reverse Journey

Not everyone stays. Yerida (“going down”) — the opposite of aliyah — refers to Israelis who emigrate from Israel. The word carries a stigma: in Zionist ideology, leaving Israel is a kind of failure.

Estimates vary, but hundreds of thousands of Israelis live abroad, primarily in the United States, Canada, and Europe. Some left for economic reasons, some for personal ones, some because they couldn’t handle the security situation or the pace of life. Many maintain deep connections to Israel and consider their absence temporary, even when it stretches into decades.

The relationship between Israel and its expatriates is complicated — marked by guilt, longing, defensiveness, and an ongoing debate about what obligation a Jew has to live in the Jewish state.

Success Stories and the Big Picture

Despite the challenges, the aliyah project is one of the most remarkable demographic undertakings in modern history. Israel has absorbed immigrants from over 100 countries, speaking dozens of languages, representing every shade of Jewish practice from ultra-Orthodox to secular, and every skin color on the human spectrum.

The absorption of one million Russian-speaking immigrants in the 1990s — a 20 percent increase in population in under a decade — transformed the country’s culture, economy, and politics. The rescue of Ethiopian Jews through Operation Moses (1984) and Operation Solomon (1991) brought an ancient Jewish community home under dramatic circumstances.

Each wave of aliyah reshapes Israel. Each new oleh carries a piece of some other country’s story into the Israeli fabric. The result is a nation that is, by design, perpetually becoming — never quite finished, always absorbing, always arguing about what it means to gather the exiles and build a home.

For those considering it: making aliyah will be harder than you expect, more rewarding than you imagine, and will challenge every assumption you have about Jewish identity, community, and home. It is not for everyone. But for those who do it, it is — in the deepest sense of the Hebrew word — an ascent.